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Two-car collision kills one and shuts Main Street bridge just before Jaguars kickoff

Jacksonville's Main Street bridge is closed in both directions due to a reported traffic homicide that occurred earlier Friday . The Jacksonville Sheriff's Office will have an update on the incident soon.

The damaged remains of a sport utility vehicle sit at the top of the Main Street bridge on Friday Aug. 8 after a head-on collision killed one driver, according to the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office.

The Jacksonville Sheriff's office had to shut down the Main Street bridge in both directions just before the kickoff of the first pre-season Jaguars game after a fatal head-on collision between two sport utility vehicles at 4 p.m. Friday Aug. 8. The bridge was reopened at about 6 p.m.

A two-vehicle accident on Jacksonville’s Main Street bridge left a 50-year-old driver dead and another motorist in serious condition late Friday afternoon, according to the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office.

Due to the traffic homicide investigation and clean up, the bridge was shut down until just about 6 p.m., only 90 minutes from Friday night’s Jacksonville Jaguars pre-game kickoff, police said.

A white Jeep Cherokee driven by Jonathan Kirkland Jr. of West 26th Street was crossing the bridge southbound about 4 p.m. when it spun out, police said.

“The vehicle then went into the northbound lanes of traffic and struck another SUV [Ford Expedition],” police spokeswoman Melissa Bujeda said. “The driver of the southbound SUV is deceased.”

Kirkland was not wearing a seat belt, police said. Speed or alcohol do not appear to be factors in the crash, police said.

Traffic homicide detectives were on the bridge investigating the fatality, shutting it down in both directions. The result was snarled traffic all over Jacksonville as those trying to leave work had to use the Acosta Bridge, and those coming in for the game had to use Emerson Street and the Hart Bridge, or Martin Luther King Jr. Expressway and Union Street.

Two-car collision kills one and shuts Main Street bridge just before Jaguars kickoff- By